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Baseball's Web Site Is Big Business

Bud Selig is something of a technophobe. So although he successfully lobbied baseball owners several years ago to create a separate company to own and operate mlb.com, he cannot personally navigate the live game video that now defines the league's Web site.

"As proud of it as I am, believe it or not, I don't use a computer," Selig, baseball's commissioner, said with a laugh during a telephone interview last week. "My five granddaughters are stunned that I'm computer illiterate. If I go online, I drive people crazy."

Selig's lack of computer savvy has done nothing to hinder the growth of mlb.com, which has become part of a $200 million company in the five years since its shaky start. Major League Baseball Advanced Media, the company created to manage the sport's digital assets, could be worth $2 billion to $3 billion if it were to go public, based on the acquisition prices of some other Web sites.

Within a short time frame, mlb.com has, rather quietly, become far more than a baseball site. Last month, the onslaught of N.C.A.A. men's basketball tournament games that were streamed live to cbs.sportsline.com, cstv.com and ncaasports.com traveled through mlb.com's broadband pipeline.

So there was mlb.com, dancing the broadband cha-cha with the Cinderellas and the top-seeded teams while bonding with millions of hoops crazies, some of whom might be converted to baseball fans.

On March 16, the first day of the tournament, mlb.com transmitted 16 games. It also carried the Cuba-United States game at the World Baseball Classic and four spring-training games, as well as college wrestling, baseball and volleyball for CSTV's Web site. In all, 1.3 million users made 5 million visits to the March Madness On Demand site, snapping up 15 million video streams.

Bowman was certain that mlb.com could carry March Madness. So was CBS, which had used other companies in past years to handle online video for the tournament.

"In terms of confidence that a vendor can pull it off, with multiple events at the same time, there were only a few who can do it," said Joe Ferreira, the executive producer of cbs.sportsline.com.

Baseball's decision to stream games -- nearly 3,000 in spring training and the regular season -- was matched recently by the National Basketball Association's decision in January to let subscribers who pay for the "League Pass" cable package also view the games on nba.com if they have access to broadband Internet connections.

The National Football League's web site, nfl.com, does not carry games.

Jon Gibs, director of media analytics for Nielsen Net/Ratings, which tracks Internet usage, said mlb.com had taken "a different perspective on the market than other major sports sites, which focus on providing unique Web news content." He added, "Baseball knows what it does well, which is to show games."

There was a time a few years ago when streaming video of games was not a definite feature for mlb.com.

"We heard in 2002 that there was no market for it," Bowman said during an interview at the company's capacious offices at the Chelsea Market in Manhattan, where Nabisco once baked Oreo cookies. "We kept finding that no one could handle the sheer weight of baseball."

But mlb.com, having built its own broadband thoroughfare, streamed a few games in late 2002. Nearly all of the games followed in 2003. A full schedule was added in 2004 to complement the site's news and statistics, and the sale of merchandise, game-used items and tickets.

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Now, live video streaming is mlb.com's fastest-growing source of revenue. The bulk of its estimated $60 million in subscription revenue last year came from streaming video of games (which cost $79.95 a season) and audio packages ($14.95 a year), with the rest from fantasy leagues and other products.

Another $110 million in revenue flowed from merchandise and ticket sales; about one-quarter of all tickets sold last year were bought on the site. Another $30 million comes from advertising and sponsorships. All of the financial figures were provided by the company.

The company received an unexpected bonus last month with the success of the World Baseball Classic: 40,000 fans paid $9.95 to watch the games, not all of which were on English-language television.

Bowman said the company's broadband artery would soon be capable of handling far more concurrent video feeds (to 5 million from the maximum of 268,000 for March Madness). The Web site has become a platform to attract a variety of customers who then agree to profit-sharing deals with baseball's company.

In addition to CBS, mlb.com's client list includes the baseball players union and all minor league teams; Major League Soccer; the Web sites for Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter; the YES Network; the World Championship Sports Network, which carries track and field, cycling and skiing; and the musical performers LL Cool J, Scott Stapp and Train, who have performed live in mlb.com's studio.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum's site will soon be run by mlb.com.

Bowman, a former president of ITT, added: "Baseball is uniquely situated for the Internet. It's live, local, every day, with endings Hollywood can't write. I thought there'd be huge growth, so I'm not surprised by what has happened."

This season, teams will receive their first financial dividend from mlb.com. Selig said the decision to reward the clubs, who invested $60 million in the company, was subjective. In the past, he said, "we wanted to plow all the money back into the company." He added, "Now, we've done so well."

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More coverage is available online.

Slide shows with Tyler Kepner, who covers the Yankees, and Ben Shpigel, who covers the Mets, previewing each team for the season.

An interactive chart of Barry Bonds and his pursuit of the career home run record that includes a comparison of Bonds, Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron.

Fan forums to discuss baseball topics big and small.

Player and team statistics from the 2005 season, as well as team-by-team schedules for the season.

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A version of this article appears in print on April 2, 2006, on Page 8008010 of the National edition with the headline: BASEBALL PREVIEW; Baseball's Web Site Is Big Business. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe